Movies in Review: "Beirut"

I'm sure I'm not the only person who saw or heard little about this film. I only came across it when researching what movies, I planned to see this weekend. There wasn't much of a selection for new releases, but I knew I had no intentions of seeing that PG-13 "horror" flick. Horror flicks should not be contained to PG-13. Such a waste of time in my opinion. But anyway, since the horror flick was out I came across the trailer for Beirut and decided to give it a go. I'm a fan of espionage thrillers as well as Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike. The trailer looked decent enough, so I walked into the theater confident my movie selections would meet my expectations ~shrugs.

This film wasn't bad, by any means. As expected the film shined with exceptional performances from both Hamm and Pike. However, I think my attraction for these war espionage films dies every time I watch films like these. The same theme seems to run throughout, with Americans being the savior and saving other people and countries from themselves. From the opening scene you could feel the weight of this ideal and it was expressed throughout the film. There was definitely more going on, but this ideal had me sucking my teeth for most of the film. I'm sorry but as decent as this film probably was I was annoyed by the "white savior" theme. As Americans we would find ourselves sitting in the theater eating this propaganda up, as we make ourselves out to be the heroes...eh.

This movie was cool, with great performances, but the story and theme were nothing exceptional. I think I will you and myself a favor and steer clear of films like these. I left the theater sucking my teeth and rolling my eyes for the most part...sorry...B-